Environmental Law Matters

As the New Year begins, a number of issues will compete for attention from Congress and the courts, and we may even get some final determinations about matters that have been long simmering. Much of the substantive work of the Obama Administration has been put into place and is currently subject to various challenges. Many of these will either be decided or will progress substantially during the coming year. Nonetheless, EPA has proposed a full agenda of rulemaking activities for 2016, including both projected notices of proposed rulemaking and publication of final rules for a wide variety of areas that it regulates. (OMB Fall 2015 EPA Rule List see also EPA Regulatory Development Tracker). Among these will include proposals for final rules for things such as standards for management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals, changes to the hazardous waste generator rules, and a NESHAP for certain industrial commercial institutional boilers. From an enforcement standpoint, EPA has indicated in its Biennial National Program Manager Guidance and its National Enforcement Initiatives that it will be focusing on several specific areas in the various media that it regulates. Within its national enforcement agenda we apparently will see some focus on areas including: large air emission sources, energy extraction, minerals processing, and animal waste management. Much will also be going on in the courts as various EPA final regulations have been challenged and we will see those challenges progress. This involves a long list of regulations, but perhaps some of the most significant will be challenges to the Administration's Clean Power Rule, the Waters of the United States Rule, and the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule. Regarding the Clean Power or Carbon Rule addressing carbon emissions from power plants, this is pending and is subject to a briefing schedule initially on the issue of whether to grant a stay of the rule pending further litigation. The D.C. Circuit set a briefing agenda and apparently oral arguments will be scheduled during the first few weeks of the new year. (Washington Examiner). A stay has been granted by the Sixth Circuit with respect to the Waters of the U.S. Rule (WOTUS) and EPA has issued a statement indicating that it will comply with the stay and, in the interim, will administer the wetlands protection programs along with the Corps of Engineers using its previous approach interpreting existing regulations in accordance with its view of the relevant case law. (EPA Clean Water Rule litigation statement). The status of the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule appears to be that the rule can be implemented even though EPA must propose certain changes or provide additional substantiation for the rule. The Supreme Court overturned the rule on the basis that the agency had not taken into account economic factors that might tend to make the rule untenable as a result of excess cost of compliance. (Michigan v. EPA). Despite this ruling, the D.C. Circuit refused to grant a stay of the rule while EPA seeks to evaluate the economic issues identified by the Supreme Court. (Utility Dive). The EPA has issued some updated information more recently intended to address the Supreme Court's concerns. (EPA Mercury Air Toxics Site). Congress will continue in its collective efforts to undo much of the regulatory agenda put in place by the Administration. Apparently this includes efforts with respect to the carbon (clean power) rule, efforts to defund implementation of the Clean Water or Waters of the U.S. rule and various efforts intended to limit or untrack the Administration's implementation of the Global Warming Summit held recently in Paris. There will also be an effort to enact legislation to change the method of regulation of coal combustion residuals. That rule, which became effective in the fall, has also been challenged in court. To conclude on what may be considered a more positive note, Congress did agree to extend tax credits for alternative energy sources. As a result, the development of alternative domestic sources, primarily wind and solar, is now assured for the next five years. (Wall Street Journal) These credits have had some significant impact on the development of this type of power generation (The Hill and National Renewable Energy Laboratory) and would now appear that those sources will continue to develop and expand play an increasingly greater role in power production in the United States.